NEWS

Unique European Online Police Project to be launched at Security Forum

A "unique, innovative project" to strengthen cooperation between European police forces will be featured at the "Third International Forum on E-Learning for Defence and Security," which will take place at Online Educa Berlin on November 28, 2007.

The system, MEPA-ONLINE, which is being developed by the Central European Police Academy (MEPA) with support from the European Union, is based on a highly successful online training and information programme, POLIZEI-ONLINE, which was developed by police in the German State of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The new system will provide police forces in the MEPA area (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and Germany) with a multilingual internet portal. Key features will include:

- An extensive education management system

- Virtual workrooms in which police experts can cooperate

- Electronic learning and information content

- A database which allows a search for police experts

Uwe Seidel of the Baden-Württemberg police, who pioneered POLIZEI-ONLINE and has been instrumental in developing the MEPA project, will provide delegates at the Berlin forum with a guided tour of the new system and an understanding of its significance to police operations.

"Combatting terrorism," as well as internationally operating criminal groups increasingly requires police action that is coordinated beyond country borders, he says the preparation, execution and success of which can only be ensured by appropriately qualified police officers."

Forum Chairman Dr. Harold Elletson of security think-tank The New Security Foundation commented: "This unique, innovative project is a perfect example of the real benefits online education and training systems can bring to the security sector. I am delighted that Uwe Seidel will be joining us in Berlin to explain how the new system can improve police performance through secure online information-sharing and cooperation."

Other presentations at the forum are likely to focus on online training and the emergency services, terrorists use of the internet, information security risk management, e-learning and transport security, and intelligence agencies and the web.

Uwe Seidel is a senior member of the police and works as a consultant for the Baden-Württemberg Home Office. In his role as consultant, he is responsible for the POLIZEI-ONLINE project. Since becoming project manager in 1999, Uwe Seidel has been responsible for all presentations and talks about the project given at trade fairs and competitions, to provide expert information and to promote the exchange of experience. Uwe Seidel furthermore presented the project at all relevant competitions and has been able to record some important successes. One of these was winning the 2006 European E-Learning Award for the blended learning project for the EU-wide introduction of the digital tachometer and winning the 2006 Innovation Award of the German Association for public-private-partnerships for the successful collaboration with Deutsche Telekom AG in the context of a public-private-partnership. Uwe Seidel furthermore introduces the project in the context of presentations and talks to potential cooperation partners in addition to the Hessen cooperation partners and is responsible for creating the right conditions for successful cooperation. He also distinguishes himself through his commitment to supporting the collaboration between the Baden-Württemberg police force and the Central European Police Academy (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland).

Uwe Seidel will be speaking at the Third International Forum on E-Learning for Defence and Security in Berlin on November 28, 2007.

back